You can hear the sound of plastic wheels moving along the sidewalk.
Everyone’s carrying their loaded coolers to a nearby tailgating site. “Catch up,” you shout to your son, Bobby.
It’s your thirteen-year-old son’s favorite day – College Football Saturday. You walk up to McLane Stadium as your son, Bobby, runs ahead to look at Brazos River one more time before entering the stadium.
You’re a little nervous for today’s game, butterflies and all. Last year, you took Bobby to an away game where a fight escalated. It was an unpleasant sight that you don’t want your boy to witness ever again.
You don’t like your son exposed to the sort of violence he saw. He doesn’t talk about it, but you know it affected him.
Besides, he would never admit it if it meant missing a Baylor game with dad! No way.
“Thank you,” the event staff says as they scan your tickets. You walk into the stadium.
You take a deep breath – expecting the butterfly feeling to heighten.
But, you realize where you’re in McLane Stadium, so you know you and your son are safe.
You’re in a ‘Facility of Merit’ for safety and security.
McLane Stadium Receives Honor for First-Class Safety & Security
According to an article posted by Baylor University, “Baylor’s McLane Stadium was recently honored with the Facility of Merit for Safety and Security Award by the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4).”
The article continues to explain that, “The accolade, given to only four NCAA schools, recognizes a facility that has performed above and beyond normal operations to demonstrate an innovative approach to enhancing safety and security. The chosen facility may also have resolved a significant safety/security issue or incident. The award is selected by each professional league and the NCAA and presented annually by a league official at the National Sports Safety and Security Conference & Exhibition.”
“We are honored to receive the NCS4 Facility of Merit for Safety and Security Award. Planning for the safety and security of our fans, student-athletes, visitors, staff and vendors is essential for a positive game day experience. It is fitting that a team sport is played at McLane Stadium as this is certainly a team award. McLane Stadium and Baylor University earned the 2016 Facility of Merit as a direct result of Mark Childers’ leadership and Drew Pittman’s diligence. The Athletics Department has worked closely with Baylor’s Department of Public Safety, SMG and our game day event staff to ensure the safest possible game-day environment for all.” – Henry Howard, Baylor Associate Athletics Director for Facilities and Events
While we congratulate our client, the Baylor Bears, we recognize the tremendous accomplishment their operation achieved.
Regardless of the honor, which only took three seasons to receive, McLane Stadium manages to continuously ‘up their game’ in safety and security.
We realized something from this. McLane accomplished this in only three years. Yes, this amount of time is brief.
They understand the importance of Proactive Operations. Because of this understanding, they can ensure the utmost safety and security of their guests and staff.
Can you? If you’re not sure; keep reading.
Today, you’ll learn the three ways to achieve the same level of expertise. You must be proactive, and the time is now.
3 Ways to ‘Merit.'
We’ve written an article that breakdowns Proactive Operations fully here. If you find today’s article valuable, we highly recommend that you read our in-depth one.
The bottom line - to be proactive you must implement three parts:
- Strategy
- Infrastructure
- Technology
The great thing about Proactive Operations is even with the Reader’s Digest version, you’ll understand the value instantly. (Don’t forget to read the in-depth version.)
Let's Talk Strategy
The strategy is your method for maximizing performance. Our biggest aspect of strategy to follow is the ACDA Principle™.
The Principle is your key to defining how you plan your success.
It outlines the needs you must fulfill so that you can steady your foundation, implement technology, obtain the best resources, and hire and train exceptional staff.
The Principle consists of addressing:
- Awareness
- Communication
- Documentation
- Analytics
You put everything in place to ensure these pillars are bulletproof. Start asking questions to uncover the needed answers.
- Can staff prevent incidents from occurring?
- Which methods do we use to communicate?
- Are we obtaining complete and accurate documentation?
- Do we have the data needed to improve, and then optimize our operation?
Trust us; do this, and you’ll always be a ‘Facility of Merit.’
Understanding the Principle is the first step in employing Proactive Operations. But, not the last.
It’s time to take what you learn about your strategy and apply it to your foundation.
Cementing the Flow of Information
Your foundation, or infrastructure, is what manages the ebb and flow of information throughout your operation.
What are your communication touchpoints? How does your front-of-house team communicate with Engineering, for example – without bottlenecks and repeated information?
Questions like these are only a fraction of what you can answer with a well-developed and defined infrastructure in place.
Identify the major departments of your operation.
- Police
- Medical
- Housekeeping
- Parking Operations
- Engineering
You might have more.
Then, organize the communication. Doing this will prevent disorder, but will also enhance your communication and ability to get things done.
Now, maximize your performance with technology.
Driving Efficiency Through Technology
We know Baylor uses technology very well. This ability allows them to boost responsiveness.
From broken cup holders to unruly spectators, they have a handle on their environment. You can too.
Questions: How do guests communicate with your staff? How fast do you respond to a fight? Do you remember who to notify for bomb threats? Can you dispatch multiple incidents in seconds?
You might not have all the answers to these questions, or they may be locked away in your emergency management plan.
Technology changes this vagueness.
Implementing technology like text communication to help guests talk to staff when something does happen or an incident management system to communicate effectively to staff during a high priority incident improves the entire operational landscape.
Technology is no longer a nice-to-have ancillary product. It’s a must-have, which you use to ensure the safety and security of everyone on your property.
There’s no longer the statement of “maybe we’ll use this” or “we’ll get to it when we have time.”
Make it a nice-to-have and things slip through the cracks. But, make it a part of your operation and watch everything improve over and over.
Over to You
We’re excited to see one of our clients achieve honors such as ‘Facility of Merit.’ Our big goal is to see all of our clients reach a level of Proactive Operations like McLane Stadium that the world has never seen.
You’re on your way to ‘Merit,’ and we’re going to help you get there.
